Just in case you haven’t yet heard about it, humanity’s decade-old suspicion has apparently finally been verified. It looks like Microsoft is indeed collecting more data about its customers than necessary via recent versions of its “Windows Update System”, according to a German computer website, tecchannel.de [link in German], which has deciphered the encrypted stream of bits sent to Redmond during any update of Windows.

Luckily, there’s help. In fact, heise.de[link in German] points to a Microsoft White Paper cryptically called Using Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 1 in a Managed Environment: Controlling Communication with the Internet describing how to deactivate the system.

But don’t ask me – I did not read it. It’s only 172 pages of small print…

If it weren’t so serious, it might actually be funny. Last year, Apple’s German pricing policy kept me from buying the new Imac, but now Bill seems to update his efforts to drive me to Apple’s gates…